124 The Early History of the Upper Wylye Valley. 



might also be, not those of the whole manor, but that of " one hide 

 of land which the Church of the manor possesses," mentioned in 

 Domesday Book. Also, at Whitecliff, which is near Smoke Alley, 

 (Hoare, p. 7), a tithing of Brixton, a holding of hides is 

 apparently a separate holding of the Abbot of Glastonbury. 



Of course the architecture and monuments in the churches 

 plainly show the changes which time brings. Thus, there is an 

 excellently carved head of Edward I. or II. built into the wall of 

 the Vicarage at Norton, and many more significant things might 

 be found by looking. For example, a curious wooden Jacobean 

 monument in Hill Deverill church is in memory of Sir Henry Coker, 

 a " King's man," who was at Worcester fight. He is depicted 

 resting his head upon a " Bibell/' and his feet upon the " Status." 

 There is also some fine Jacobean work at Sherrington. 



Pursuing the same method as before, we find that oral traditions 

 about the land still give us glimpses into its history. Some field- 

 names which are still in use are as old as the days when Glastonbury 

 Abbey was the owner, for we find them in a Glastonbury survey 

 of the 13th century. We may pass over the shadowy owners in 

 Early English times, till we find much of the upper part of the 

 valley in the hands of the Abbey. 1 The wealth of this magnificent 



1 Hoare (Ifeytesbury Hundred, p. 38) gives a Deverill document of which 

 he tries to explain the names. They are the bounds of an estate of 20 hides 

 given by Edgar to the Priory of Ellandune. "A Defereal ad veterem fossarn; 

 et sic per fossam ad Langanbeorgam (longum collem) ; inde ad viam militarem ; 

 per viam ad mansionem Pudelenham dictam ; inde ad Henleguam, (campum 

 sic dictum) ; inde ad mansionem Peocesham dictam ; a mansione 

 ad viam patriam ; a via ad veterem fossam ; a fossa ad viam mili- 

 tarem ; per viam ad collem Eferbeorh [i.e., collem aprinum] dictum ; 

 a colle iterum ad Defereal." He identifies Langanbeorgam with Long 

 Knoll, near Maiden Bradley; Eferbeorh as Bore Hill, between Long- 

 bridge and Warminster, but " can make nothing of either Pudelenham or 

 Peocesham." Now it is manifestly impossible that an estate of twenty hides 

 should reach from Bore Hill, which is a mile from Warminster on the Deverill 

 Boad, to Long Knoll, at Maiden Bradley. Again, that hill is probably Bore, 

 (not Boar, Hill, as Hoare translates collis aprinus, by an unintentional pun ;) 

 and it took its name from the thirteenth century family of that name. But 

 with the aid of the local names we may, with some probability, see in the 

 "military road" that which runs along the ridge to Great Bidge Wood; 

 Langabeorh may be the long hill which rises south of Longbridge, now 



